


A Glance Unstolen

by JonSanders (Nihilo_Nile)



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: 5x13, Angst, Basic Sandwich, Borchert's Lab, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Language, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 00:46:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11196939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nihilo_Nile/pseuds/JonSanders
Summary: Set during 5x13, Basic Sandwich.An alternate Borchert's Lab scenario in which Jeff doesn't look away after his blast of passion.





	A Glance Unstolen

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched community recently and it brought back the old anger I have because what happened in Borchert's Lab was never addressed in the show. It was such a major thing for Jeff and they just dropped it, I mean, come on! (Sorry just needed to rant a little)
> 
> So I decided to try my hand at writing a short fic, just to set things straight.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

_"Milady."_

_"Milord."_

Then everything stopped and Jeff was frozen in the moment. He stood and stared and was overwhelmed with the sheer level of passion that this woman and those words, _Milady, Milord_ , could make him feel.

In that moment, he could stop denying. Because for once it was the easy way out. He let go and let the emotions unleash like a breath he'd been holding in for too long.

His mind shot back to simpler times. To memories of a pep rally and a debate kiss. Back to a tranny dance. Back to a warm smile and longing stares. To a confession in a storage room, conspiracies and to yams. A chase for an elusive bandit and not-so-platonic shoulder holding. Memories that made him _feel_. Suddenly it was all so clear to him. He loved her. And it fulfilled him in a way that nothing ever could. He loved her so, so much.

So much, apparently, that it could jump start a whole computer system. But he didn't pay attention to that or the fact that everyone had turned around. Because right now he felt... content. Like he was finally living in the moment and couldn't go back, or else it would all end and this feeling would drown and die in the broken, anxiety-ridden husk that was Jeff Winger. He couldn't let it go. He just kept staring into those beautiful blue eyes because she was all that mattered. She was all that had ever mattered to him and he could see that now.

He didn't care about the shocked looks on his friend's faces and was in utter ignorance regarding the tear that had started rolling down his cheek. What mattered was this. The moment. Because in the moment he could finally feel happy. All he'd ever wanted was happiness. What he didn't know was that it was right there under his nose all this time. All he ever had to do was let go and stop denying.

He was crying, although unsure whether they were joyful tears or sad tears – because once the moment was gone it was gone, yet at the same time he felt amazing.

No, he would die if he ever snapped out of this trance. He needed this. He couldn't ever let go. He loved her and this was the only way to experience it without the pain of the inevitable loss.

Then he saw the lights and the room and at last felt the tears staining his flushed cheeks. He saw the shocked faces of his friends and, finally, the tears running down Annie's face. Then, just like that, the moment was lost and he felt he may as well just drop dead right then and there. It was all he could do to blink. What else was there to do anymore?

Everyone except Jeff and Annie filed out of the room as if mutually agreeing that the two were best left alone for this.

He didn't know what to do. He'd run the scenarios in his head. A life with Annie outside of Greendale. They never ended well. In each scenario he would hurt her or screw up in some foolish way and she'd leave him.

Jeff had no idea what he would do without her. She would take everything. His heart, his willpower. Even their friends.

He ran the scenario where he messes up and continues to do so. Jeff knew himself too well. He would avoid fixing it. He would feel guiltier and guiltier as her smile lost more and more of its usual glow until she stopped smiling at all. She would leave him and the study group would never forgive him. He would resort to the scotch without her or any of the only people who'd ever cared about him there to help protect him from himself. He would drink and drink some more. The depression would catch up with him as he thought of her and how he could've fixed it and he would just... regret. Until one day the brooding and self-pity and depression would all be too much and the only logical thing left to do with his life would be to end it. He knew for a fact that without Annie or the rest of his friends he would end up broken beyond repair.

Maybe he would survive the pills that were supposed to end it all. Maybe he would wake up in the hospital bed and no one would be there to comfort him. Maybe he would exit the hospital with nothing but the knowledge that he was right. He truly had no one. And truly no one wanted him. Not even the woman he loved and had never stopped loving.

That would be unbearable beyond anything.

And it would be beyond him to bear. Because he was already so fucking broken.

He hadn't intended to say everything out loud. It just sort of slipped. He really couldn't control himself around this woman.

He looked into her eyes and saw the shock and sympathy and understanding. She looked as if she understood him at last. All the denial and pain could be forgiven.

She ran over and gave him the most passionate hug he had ever received. He felt himself relax a little before returning her embrace. It was so chaste, yet conveyed every intimate feeling they had for each other. When she looked up at him, determined and ready to fight, he had already soaked himself with tears that he had no idea he was holding.

She placed a soft palm on his cheek and brushed the tears away and Jeff already felt better. God, did he love her.

"Look at me," She demanded in a voice that managed to sound both firm and gentle, as if she was trying her hardest not to cry. He moved his gaze to her eyes and lingered. "Jeff, I love you too. And I would never, _ever_ leave you like that, even when you hurt me or screw up -" the tears finally fell free and her voice was strained in that tearful way. "God, Jeff, I wouldn't do that to you. I love you so much."

She loved him. He felt a warm buzz at that as all the negativity washed away and was replaced by happier thoughts. A scenario that he'd never run. The one where she stays and it all works out. Where they love each other forever and the happiness he'd felt earlier lasted a lifetime. The timeline where he quits the scotch with her help. Where he finally finds what he wants in life. They get married after a few years and have a kid or two. They get a house together as she works her dream job and he's back on track. Where they live in marital bliss for eternity as their kids grow up to be successful, kind-hearted adults that they could be proud of, together. The life where, when he's on his last hospital bed breathing his final breaths, she's there with him holding his hand. He stares into her deep blue eyes as she weeps for him. They're surrounded by friends and family and she says, one last time, that she loves him. Because in reality people truly did care for him. And the woman he loved would never leave, because she loved him as much as he loved her.

And when you have love, you have happiness.

This was a life he could bear and wanted with all his heart. Because despite how broken he is, he knows that with Annie anything is possible.

This was what he wanted and despite all the ways it could go wrong, nothing was worse than laying in his deathbed without having spent his life with the woman he loved.

So he had to take it. He grasped Annie's cheek and leaned in for the most heart-wrenching kiss he'd ever experienced. She kissed back and all was right in the world because they were together at last. He felt fulfilled. Maybe this was what he was looking for.

He realised that there were so many different timelines he had just avoided.

Abed had once told him that they were already living the prime timeline.

 

For Jeff, the prime timeline begins now.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is appreciated.
> 
> I enjoyed writing this so I may give it another go in the near future.
> 
> Thanks.


End file.
